Dangerous Ingestions

This is where the GOP leaves us.  They had the opportunity to remove the president in February and they chose to not do so.  They were aware of the growing threat of a pandemic at the time, and they also knew that there was no way that he would be able to lead the country through it.  It might have been to predict just how poor a job he would do, but there was nothing to support that he would listen to scientists, nor would he be able to comprehend the magnitude of the problem.  So the fact that the makers of Lysol products had to state categorically that no one should ingest one of their products is appalling.  It is one thing to incite them to form large crowds that increase their risk of coming down with COVID.  It is quite another to go all Jonestown on them and inject themselves with bleach products.  He has a grammar school understanding of medicine and this is where he leaves us.  Once again, I wish I believed in hell.

Midwest Made by Shauna Sever

This is the year long cookbook for the Food 52 Baking Club, a group that cooks from a different cookbook each month, but has a bonus book to cook from throughout the year, a cookbook to get to know well.  I joined the group late in the year last year, got the year long book out of the library, but was largely uninspired by it, and ended up cooking nothing.  Not so this year.
The cookbook seems to be a love it or hate it experience.  One club member offered to mail hers to someone who wanted it, she wanted it our of her house and never see it again.  Then another is five recipes short of cooking everything in the book.
The recipes are overall very easy to follow, cover baked goods that come from the Midwest, so a strong German, Polish, and Scandinavian influence pervades.  The English Muffing bread does have the texture of an English Muffin, my mom declared that the Best Banana Bread was the best she had had, and the fancy show stopped of a Cassata Cake was easy to put together and looked just like the picture.  If you want to learn how to make a few solid desserts, from cookies to bars to pies to cakes and some savory things thrown in, this is a great place to start.

Aloo Gobi

Yet another recipe from our Indian feast.  I have been trying to cook out of the cookbooks in the Food 52 cookbook club, but every once in a while we return to old favorites.

Peanut or canola oil, for shallow frying

1 pound boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into thick 2 by 1 by 1-inch fries

1 head cauliflower (1 3/4 pounds), cut into delicate florets

1 tablespoon peeled finely chopped fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

3 tablespoons water

2 to 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro

1. Put the oil in a large frying pan and set over medium heat. When it is hot, put in the potatoes and fry them until they are golden and almost tender, about 10 minutes. Lift the potatoes out with a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels. Turn the heat to medium-high, put in the cauliflower florets, and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until they are golden brown. Lift the cauliflower out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Turn the heat off. Remove all the oil from the frying pan except for 2 tablespoons (the extra oil can be drained and reused). Turn the heat to medium-high and put in the ginger. Stir for 10 seconds. Now return the potatoes and cauliflower to the pan. Turn the heat down to medium. Put in the turmeric, salt, cayenne, cumin, and coriander. Stir gently to coat the vegetables with the spices. Add 3 tablespoons of water. Stir once and cover the pan. Turn the heat down to low and cook very gently for 4 minutes. Add the cilantro and toss gently. Serve hot.

Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)

Did I enjoy this movie?  I did.  Is it a great animated film?  No, it is not.  The thing is, I have been pretty low energy this pandemic.  I am really impressed at people in history who did great things while they were under lock and key for previous pandemics.  I find the 'what if's' to be inhibiting my ability to watch a movie with a deftly crafted plot, and let's just say, this movie was not taxing.
In this sequel the pets go their separate ways, coming together to save the day at the end, but they have different threads to their stories.   This is unlike other sequels from the year, where Toy Story 4 saw the same toys, new children, How To Train Your Dragon 3 saw same good guys, basically the same bad guys, with a new rescue plan, and Frozen 2 ramped up the magical powers, gave the sisters a new heritage, but saw the team working toward a common goal.  So this is the only bold move about the narrative.  It is like a couple of short stories strung together, in a fluffy manner. I do like that the owner has changed her story, and that time has passed and I did enjoy it.

Everyone Knows You Go Home by Natalia Sylvester

I really loved this book.  I read an article from a Texas newspaper about 17 other books to read if you wanted to immerse yourself in the Latin experience but did not want to read American Dirt.  I a not sure you have to be Hispanic to be able to write about the culture, but it doesn't hurt, and there was so much back lash about the book that I felt it wasn't a good place to start.  This book is one of the first that I chose to read.
The book begins on the wedding day of Isabel and Martin.  They are pulling away from the church when the ghost of Omar, Martin's late father, appears in their car.  Martin is furious.  He and his father were not on good terms when last they met.  Isabel is surprised, but intrigued.  It is the Day of the Dead, and while she is unsure of the protocol on hugging a ghost, she wants to know more about Martin.  The book then toggles back and forth between the past and the present, chronicling Omar's story going forwards and backwards until it all comes together.  It is a pleasure to read.

Dehli Green Beans

We have continued to cook out of Madhur Jaffrey's Vegetarian Indian, even after getting a few other options.  Maybe it is because we have been cooking her recipes for years, or because the way she cooks and spices things speaks to us, but we always seem to come back to her.  My spouse has been working with critically ill COVID patients and when he came home from the hospital this weekend, he wanted comfort food, and we ended up with an Indian feast, including these simply prepared beans.

• Kosher salt
• 1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive or peanut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• 1 to 3 fresh hot green chilis, such as bird's-eye, Indian long, or serrano, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger (from a 1-inch piece)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add beans and cook until bright green and tender, about 5 minutes. Drain.
• Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high; add asafetida. A few seconds later, add cumin seeds and let sizzle a few seconds. Remove from heat; add chiles and ginger. Stir a few times, then return to medium-low heat.
• Add beans, 3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste), and coriander. Cook, stirring, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons water, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 5 minutes more. Serve hot or room temperature.

Secret Life of Pets (2016)

This is a bit of a retread of the Toy Story theme, where the pets do not know what their people do when they are gone during the day (ironic to watch this now, because of course so many of us are no longer gone the whole day.  My dog does NOT understand my fascination with my keyboard and computer, I must say, but he knows exactly where I am).  What we don't know is that they have a life of their own.
The trouble starts when Max' owner adopts another dog from the animal shelter and much like how Woody took an instant dislike to Buzz Lightyear, Max does not appreciate having Duke in the picture.  As you might imagine, after surviving some adversity together, Max is willing to risk his own life to save Duke's and when their owner arrives to an apartment in shambles but her dogs standing shoulder to shoulder, she has no idea what the day entailed.

Onion Dip

Passover has come and gone.  That is the holiday that is associated with potato chips at our house, and while gluten is now back in the rotation, the potato chips remain.
Truthfully, it started with the pandemic and not with Passover this year.  Our youngest is a fan of the chip, and when his classes were switched to Zoom, he became house bound in a big way.  He doesn't even go shopping, just curbside delivery.  That meant that his favorite dip became a high need food option, and after blazing through several commercial versions, it was time to make his own.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups diced onions

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups sour cream

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

 

In a saute pan over medium heat add oil, heat and add onions and salt. Cook the onions until they are caramelized, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Mix the rest of the ingredients, and then add the cooled onions. Refrigerate and stir again before serving.

Earth Day's 50th Birthday

A pandemic is very bad for the human race, but for the earth it has been a good thing.  There has been less industry, less air and water pollution, the oil market is collapsing, and the atmosphere is maybe not as clean as it was 50 years ago, but it is far better than it has been in decades.
In the months ahead, as we go back out into public and ramp up our use of energy, what lessens can we take with us from this time when we stayed indoors and tried to save each other?  Clearly there are forces of evil that want it to all go back to the way it was.  Captains of industry, who are no doubt hunkered down in safe places, are trying very hard to get people back into the work place.  The meat packing industry is Iowa should be a cautionary tale where that is related.  We have had a huge surge in COVID+ cases in the last week related to not improving safety there, in hopes of not interrupting the food chain, but failing to see that the way we protect health care workers needs to apply to all essential industries.  The industries that plan best for the return to the workplace will fare the best.
And today, say a prayer for the survival of our home, the planet Earth.

Troop Zero (2020)

I recommend this as an option for pandemic watching.  It is a misfit kid growing up movie that takes a lot of it's vision from Wes Anderson's Moonlight Kingdom. 
One reviewer described it as the new generation of underdogs, but I think these kids were always there, there was just a lot less sympathy for them in the past. Christmas is the girl who drives the forming of Birdies Troop Zero.  She has no interest in the existing troop in her town and they have no interest in her.  They are girls who see themselves as better than others, and have no compunction about bullying the less fortunate.  They want nothing to do with Christmas and she has no interest in them either.  She is fascinated by space, and when she learns that the winner of a Birdie competition will be included in a record that will go in search of intelligent life in the universe, she is all in on that quest.
She assembles a group of kids that includes physical disabilities, neglect, non-gender conformity, and they are all living in poverty.  Let's go team!  You cannot help but root for them.